The present invention relates generally to improvements in agricultural implements and more particularly to an earth tilling attachment for a seed planting implement which is operative intermediate a drawing tractor and the planting implement to retill and smooth dirt compacted by passage of the tractor preparatory to the planting operation.
Mechanization of the farming industry has provided tremendous production with a small expenditure of labor. Such mechanized farm equipment is, however, relatively expensive both in initial investment and operating costs. Implement cost reduction and reduced operating time therefore remain paramount concerns to the agriculture industry.
A number of schemes for tilling ground immediately prior to a planting operation have been proposed with such schemes typically suffering from one or more of the following drawbacks: high initial implement costs; requiring one pass for the tilling operation and a second pass for the planting operation; difficult and complex procedures for coupling a tractor to the tilling device; complex operator controls requiring operator skill and concentration as well as operator familiarity with the particular tilling implement; and, difficulty in preparing and transporting the tilling implement on public roads between work sites.
One such scheme is to pull a conventional peg tooth or spring tooth harrow between a tractor and a planter. In such a scheme, the tractor is hitched to the harrow and the harrow in turn is hitched to the planter, and with such an arrangement the initial coupling of the three items is somewhat difficult and time consuming and the resulting arrangement is awkward to control, particularly when attempting sharp turns near corners of a field.
It would be highly desirable to obviate the above recited problems and to provide a practical preplanting tiller arrangement requiring low capital expenditure and virtually no increase in planting time.